Re: APIS, looong post

Christina,

I must say I and many others were very impressed with your work. We do not
do anything to discourage women. I don't know what exactly the problem is
as my classes at the College are 2/3 women all the time. Yeah, Keith, I
think he is an alien being.<grin>

Your mention of put up or shut up is interesting. I think we had a few of
those in the past and they have not returned. APIS is a good bullsh*t
filter. Not that folks are nasty or anything but that those who have built
their careers on Internet talk just don't seem to make it there.

5 prints in 5 minutes is a real hit. we get to see a lot of work in a short
time. This crowd can take in work that fast and get a fairly accurate
assessment of the photographer from that.

Gotta go, Julio just came in and we have to go back to the hacienda.
PhotoArts lectures galore tonite.

--Dick

  At 08:09 AM 7/13/2005, you wrote:
>Hi all,
>Back from APIS and I thought I would share my experiences
>there. The group was smaller than before, and (listen up women) very few
>women there, which always surprises me. However, the energy in the group
>was very good--probably because those of us that came were hard core alt
>process people. Every time I think I'm not going to go because it is too
>expensive, then I go, and I am always glad I did.
>
>The truly wonderful thing about APIS I have decided is where else can you
>meet people obsessed with arcane photographic process and talk without eyes
>glazing over? The benefit is the lunches and dinners together, the chatting
>over coffee in the morning, the networking that occurs around (and sometimes
>through) the panel presentations. Our group is getting smaller, and maybe
>when silver gelatin becomes an alt process we will see an immediate
>burgeoning of numbers, but right now it's a pretty darn few of us out there
>and we need each other.
>
>For me there were lots of highlights. Of course, seeing and hearing Keith
>Taylor's presentation was incredible--his gums of Cy de Cosse's work were
>absolute perfection in detail, color, everything. He is truly a master
>gummist. His images were clean, tidy, clear, color balanced with that
>perfect touch of je ne sais quoi that gum affords the color palette. Keith
>uses imagesetter negs, tapes his edges before coating with blue painter's
>tape to keep them pristine, and other such things that he himself can share
>on the list.
>
>Another highlight time after time is the five in five, where we see five
>prints of anyone who so desires in five minutes. That's where all of us
>"put our money where our mouth is". Being an "expert" on the list about
>this or that process is easier than showing a set of prints to a
>knowledgeable group such as APIS. This is the first time I participated in
>the 5 in 5 and it sure made ME nervous! My bottom line about alt process is
>the proof is in the pudding--the prints.
>
>Personally, the most beneficial factoid I found out this time was by Paul
>Lehman. Paul is out there messin' around and inventing new processes, and
>he knows chemistry because he is a....hell, I can't remember, but he does
>dermatological testing blah blah with the face....and he discovered that
>(Katharine Thayer, this might interest you!!) gelatin with a touch of
>dichromate and then a pinch of hydroquinone instantly hardens into a rubbery
>mess. He talked about crosslinking of gelatin and gum, and the light bulb
>went off in my head about a new possible way of sizing with less toxic
>stuff. When the moving van actually GETS here with my stuff (now 3 1/2
>weeks have passed and they now have to pay an $800 framing bill for my show
>to hang this thursday) I will begin testing this.
>
>What I also realized at APIS is that (coming out of an art background and
>getting my MFA in photography in an art program as opposed to maybe a
>technical program such as RIT) the coming together of scientists, chemists,
>computer geeks, historians, and artists is where the new alt process stuff
>happens. It'd be a cold day in hell, for instance, before I'd decide to put
>a pinch of hydroquinone in my mix.
>
>The disheartening thing I need to mention though is how many people said
>they read the list and never post for fear of retribution. I understand the
>feeling, but it doesn't stop me. I would hope others of you who normally
>don't post would start. This is our "photographic society", right here, and
>an instant one at that. At least we don't have to wait for weekly or
>monthly meetings in downtown London as they did in back in the day.
>
>That's my two cents. Those of you in the Minneapolis area, please feel free
>to stop in at my Contemporary Vanitas showing of gum prints, 211 N.
>Washington St, Minneapolis, 5:30-7:30 this thursday night, at Robichaud and
>Anderson. There will be wine and verrrry smelly cheeses served (which
>should be interesting during this hot summer week, but at least you'll know
>it is not me but the cheese). The works will be up for a month. Art
>Chakalis got a special preview of them on monday after I hung them all day
>and got butt chafe doing so, climbing up and down the ladder 400 times. Oh
>my, I can never keep my mouth shut..
>Chris
Received on Wed Jul 13 15:10:04 2005